Heartbeat
by Soralake
Summary: Hana Keiko, the new vice captain for the 13th squad. Rukia is asked to take her in, so she decides what better place for her to stay but at the Kuchiki mansion? So, what will Hana and Byakuya do when they find each other caught in a secret love?
1. First Meeting

**Heartbeat **

**Hello! Happy New Year!!! :) Well, this is my first ByaXOC story. Haha, actually it's one of my first stories that I've written and uploaded onto fanfiction in a long time. So, I hope this story will keep you entertained and I hope you like it since there are so many other stories out there. But anywho, enjoy the first chapter of the story, Heartbeat! **

Chapter 1: First Meeting

[Rukia's POV]

When I met her, I had just returned from the real world. Ichigo had requested aid from us _again. _That boy…he was always getting himself into trouble. Well, someone like him was prone to getting into business that wasn't his. Nevertheless, I found myself fighting by his side time and time again. That was, until I met the girl who would change _all _our lives.

"Oi, Rukia!"

I turned to see the familiar figure of Renji in the distance running towards me. "Renji, what are you doing here?"

He ruffled my hair when he got up to me. "What, I can't visit an old friend?" His face held a smirk.

I scowled. "What's up?"

"Oh right, I was supposed to tell you that there's going to be a new member in your squad. Ukitake taichou wants you, Kiyone, and Sentarou present when she arrives." His face, for once seemed slightly serious at this news.

I tilted my head in confusion. _No one mentioned a new squad member to me._ "Are you sure?"

Renji nodded. "She'll arrive around noon."

I glanced at the sky. "So, around 3 hours and she'll be here?"

"Yeah," Renji seemed to be getting a little impatient about something.

"What's wrong, you keep fidgeting."

He averted his gaze. "It's nothing."

My gaze remained firm. "Renji, spill it."

He sighed. "I've just been worried about Kuchiki taichou lately. He's been kind of distant and there's just…I don't know, forget I mentioned it." He turned to leave.

"Wait," I called.

He turned back to me.

My eyes softened. "Thanks for worrying about him, but I'm sure he'll be fine, okay?"

He nodded and smirked. "Why would I think otherwise? He is my captain."

I grinned and shooed him away.

"Rukia, this is Hana Keiko. She'll be filling the role as my fukutaichou." Ukitake taichou stated with a soft smile.

I bowed and nodded towards the girl. She was petite, like me, and had a thin, but beautiful figure. Her long, straight black hair seemed to flow down her back. I noticed something off about her eyes. They were brown, but they seemed almost…dead. There was no trace of life in them. Her expression read happy and alert, but from her eyes I saw sadness.

_She's so beautiful, so why does she seem so sad? I wonder if Ukitake taichou noticed anything off about her. She seems nice I suppose._

I shook myself back to what Ukitake taichou was saying.

"She's highly trained in fighting and also kido, so I think she'll fit in with our squad nicely, don't you, Rukia?" He gazed at me.

_He's just happy about finally filling the spot of fukutaichou. _I grinned. "Of course."

"All right, then I think that's about it, but I'm afraid you'll have to find your own sleeping arrangements. Space is a little tight as of late, but we should resolve this problem shortly…ah, Rukia, would you mind giving Hana a place to stay for a little while?"

I nodded. "I'm sure Byakuya Nii-sama wouldn't mind. There's plenty of room at the Kuchiki mansion."

My captain seemed slightly surprised at this remark. "You're staying there?"

My gaze dropped to the floor. "Only for a little while, since I've been going to the real world so much, I gave up my apartment and decided to move into the mansion." I glanced back up. "But I'm working on getting my own place to stay, I just thought it'd be more convenient t-"

"Rukia," He held up his hand with a smile. "It's okay, I think it's great that you and Kuchiki taichou have been able to bond a little more."

I nodded and stood up. "Well, do you have everything with you, Hana?" I smiled at her.

She gave her head a quick nod.

"All right, we should get going and let Nii-sama know since he'll be getting ready to go home soon." We bowed to Ukitake taichou and exited the barracks.

[Hana's POV]

When I arrived at the 13th squad barracks and was introduced to Ukitake taichou, I could tell that I'd like where I was, but it still didn't fill the uneasiness in my heart. Then I met Rukia, who seemed to see right through me. She was nice, but I wasn't too sure of her yet. I almost laughed when Ukitake taichou asked her if I could stay with her for a while since there wasn't space for another squad member yet. This was going to be an interesting experience.

After Rukia and I left the barracks, an almost awkward silence seemed to settle between us until she spoke.

"So, what brings you here to the 13th squad?" She glanced at me as we walked to the 6th squad barracks.

"Well, I've been training personally with the second squad captain for the past couple years and about a week ago she decided that I should be placed into the 13 protection squads. She thought I was good enough to become a ranked officer, and I guess she was right." I watched Rukia's mind working, trying to process what I'd just said.

Out of all the things I thought she'd reply with, she said, "Soifon, huh? I bet she was a lot to handle." She grinned at me.

I was taken aback a second before sputtering an answer. "Oh, yeah, a little I suppose. She wasn't too bad, though. You just have to get used to her."

Rukia stopped abruptly, almost making me crash into her.

"Is something wrong?"

Her bangs hid her eyes, but I could tell she wanted to tell me something important.

"Rukia?" I was getting a little worried.

She glanced back up at me with a smile, but not before I noticed something passing in her eyes. "It's nothing, come on, we're almost there."

I nodded and followed her as we entered the barracks. I was almost immediately bombarded by a guy with red, spiky hair that was put up into a ponytail and had tattoos all over, including a white bandana covering his forehead, giving him a punk look. I tried to stifle a laugh when he walked up to us.

"Rukia, I see you brought the rookie with you!" He gave me a huge grin. "Hey, I'm Renji, the fukutaichou in the 6th squad. Glad to see that the 13th squad has a new member. How've you been settling in?"

I just stared.

Rukia snickered.

Renji glanced over at her. "What, is she deaf or something?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Who said I'm deaf, I was just shocked with how noisy you fukutaichou's are."

He scowled. "That's no way to talk to someone that's got a higher rank than you." He seemed a little smug at this remark.

Rukia coughed. "She's the same rank as you, Renji."

He choked.

Rukia and I began laughing.

"What, how's that possible? I thought you just joined the 13 protection squads! How'd you become a ranked officer so quickly?"

I managed to answer through my laughing fit, "I was training under Soifon taichou for several years."

Renji just gawked.

I regained my composure after several minutes and said, "You should shut your mouth or you'll get flies caught in your throat."

Renji immediately shut his mouth but continued to scowl at me. "She's just like you."

It was Rukia's turn to scowl. "Are you blaming this on me?"

"No, I'm saying it's a bad idea to let her spend too much time with you. You're a bad influence on her."

"Too late, she'll be staying with us for a while-oh, Nii-sama, is he still in his office?" Rukia asked, suddenly panicking.

Renji shook his head. "No, he left just a few minutes before you walked in, and what do you mean she'll be staying with you for a while?"

Rukia ignored him and looked at me. "Did you learn how to shunpo?"

I nodded.

"All right, we have to go. I was hoping he'd still be here but we have to tell him before it gets too late, come on!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the office. A few seconds later we shunpo'd to the Kuchiki mansion.

When we arrived, I didn't have much time to gawk at how big the mansion was since Rukia pulled me along past the dining hall and towards a long hallway with several doors before stopping at the last one out of breath.

She knocked.

No answer.

"I'm going to go check inside, I'll be right back."

I nodded and stood quietly outside the door when suddenly I felt a strong reiatsu approaching from behind me. I turned to see a man wearing shinigami robes, and a captain's haori, along with some weird head piece and a beautiful blue scarf that was stylishly thrown around his neck walking towards me, or more to the door I was standing in front of.

At first, he seemed to ignore me, but then I noticed his brow furrowing. "Who are you?"

"I-"

"She's with me!" Rukia cried as she hurtled herself out of his bedroom.

"Rukia, what's the meaning of this?" He seemed slightly annoyed.

"Oh, well, she's the 13th squad's new fukutaichou and she didn't have anywhere to stay and Ukitake taichou asked if I could give her a place to stay, so I was wondering if she could stay here for a while, at least until she finds a place of her own. I promise she won't be any trouble."

I watched as Rukia fumbled her sentences together, forming a jumbled mess of an explanation. It was pretty funny, but with her brother's demeanor, I could see why she was so nervous. "What she means to say is that Ukitake taichou suggested that she find me a place to stay and Rukia decided that I stay with her here."

He turned to me, studying my features and then stated, "All right."

"Nii-sama?" Rukia looked a little surprised.

He turned back to her. "I don't mind if she stays here."

She still seemed a little unsure of what she'd heard, but nonetheless smiled and nodded. "Thank you!"

He nodded and turned back to me. "I don't think I caught your name."

"I'm Hana Keiko, taichou. It's very nice to meet you." I bowed in respect.

He didn't answer, but I noticed his face soften ever so slightly before nodding once more and retreating into his room for the evening.

Rukia and I stood outside his room for several minutes before she turned to me and exclaimed, "How'd you stand up to him like that?! No one's ever done that! Not even me!"

I shrugged. "I don't know, it just kind of came out."

She shook her head in amazement and grabbed my arm as we walked to her room.

"Oh yeah, what was his name? He never told me."

"It's Byakuya, Byakuya Kuchiki. The 28th head of the Kuchiki clan." Rukia smiled proudly.

I smiled. "You're happy to have him as a brother, aren't you?"

She nodded. "Very much, even though he can seem kind of cold at times, he has a good heart."

I giggled. "I noticed, since you seemed to stutter the whole way through explaining why we were standing outside his doorway."

Rukia blushed.

"But anyways," I put my bag on a bed across from the one I assumed to be Rukia's. "We should probably get some rest since we'll be busy tomorrow, right?"

She nodded and showed me where the bathroom was before handing me an extra pair of pajamas and then bidding me goodnight.

It took me a few minutes to get everything unpacked before I realized everything in her room seemed to be rabbit related, at least one way or another, but I almost tripped and fell over a huge stuffed rabbit sitting in the corner of her room. I mentally told myself to ask her what the big obsession was with the rabbits before climbing into bed and turning off the light.

_This is __**definitely**__ going to be an interesting adventure. _

**All right, that's the first chapter! I'd really appreciate it if you reviewed! They would be generously accepted! Haha. I'll try to update as soon as I can before school starts back up again, so no promises but I'll try and have the next chapter up by Sunday. But thank you so much for reading! I hope it wasn't too boring for you. I'm out of practice at uploading stories. lol. Anyway, Happy new year and please, please review! ^^ **

**-Soralake**

**P.S. There are definitely possibilities of me writing ByaRuki fics too, so stay tuned for those as a possible in the near future! :)**


	2. Finding Hisana

Chapter 2: Finding Hisana

**Welcome to Chapter 2! As promised, the 2nd chapter is out before Sunday! Whoo, yeah me! Lol. All right, well please enjoy this chapter! I hope it's a little more interesting! And thanks to Yemi Hikari for reviewing! Enjoy! ^^**

[Hana's POV]

The next morning, I awoke to find Rukia already out of bed. Her bed was neatly made; I could tell that she was very meticulous about how things were kept, especially in her room. I got up and walked over to one of my bags, pulling out some bathroom accessories and shuffling over to the bathroom. After quickly changing into my shinigami robes and running a brush through my hair, I exited the bedroom.

After several minutes of walking aimlessly around the mansion, I found myself inside a darkened room, only a few slivers of morning sunlight breaking through the blinds.

_Where am I?_

I walked a little deeper into the room to discover a huge cabinet placed in the middle of the floor. The doors on the cabinet were closed. Was this a clothes closet? I opened one of the doors and saw a beautifully lain cloth covering a shelf. I quickly opened the other door and gasped when I realized what I'd uncovered.

There was a beautiful picture of a woman placed perfectly in the center of the cloth. Several white candles were surrounding the picture. But that wasn't what I was paying attention to. It was the person that was in the picture. The woman looked almost exactly like Rukia, the only difference being the fact that she looked slightly older. But that didn't make her any less beautiful.

I glanced back around the room. There were no other effects in the room. That must mean that I was in a memorial shrine. I looked back at the picture, fixated on the woman's face. Who was she? She looked so much like Rukia, but it couldn't be if Rukia was alive and well. Was she a relative?

"What are you doing in here?"

I spun around at the voice. It was Byakuya. "Kuchiki taichou, I-"

"Get out of this room immediately!" He commanded. I saw the flash of anger in his eyes.

"H-hai!" I quickly bowed and ran out of the room.

"Pack your things and never enter this house again," Byakuya said placidly, shutting the door behind me.

I obeyed his words, scampering off to try and find my room. When I arrived in the doorway, Rukia was just exiting the room.

"Hana, there you are, I was just about to go looking for you!"

I ran past her and started grabbing clothes, stuffing them into my bags.

"Hey, what's going on? What happened?" She walked over to me.

I didn't answer, grabbing the remainder of my things and walking out of the room.

"Hana, where are you going? Did something happen?" Rukia ran after me, stopping when I halted.

"How do I get out of here?" I asked softly, keeping my eyes averted.

"What, why?" Rukia touched my arm.

I flinched.

She let go, a look of concern running across her face. "Did Nii-sama do something?"

I shook my head. "Just tell me how to get out of here, please."

"Hana-"

"Rukia, please." My eyes met hers, casting off a pleading look.

She held the gaze for several minutes before finally sighing and saying, "Go down this hall and to the left. It's the last door."

"Thank you," I replied with a curt nod and walked swiftly down the hall and out the front door.

[Rukia's POV]

I watched as Hana left, no hesitation in her step, just the determination to get out of the house.

_What happened? Did Nii-sama say something to provoke her to leave?_

The look in her eyes…they held defiance, and a silent plead.

I walked down the hall and towards Nii-sama's room. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I decided to go to Hisana's memorial room. That was the next reasonable place that he would be, and I could still feel his reiatsu so that meant that he hadn't left the mansion yet. I walked towards the room to hear a deep voice saying something from inside. I waited outside the door, knowing that it was impolite to interrupt someone when they were speaking to a deceased loved one.

I tried to occupy myself with pushing back my cuticles, but I couldn't help to hear what Byakuya Nii-sama was saying inside the room.

"…and I'm sorry about you having been interrupted. I promise that she won't ever come into this room again. I hope that you weren't too displeased, she was only a child. She didn't know any better." He paused. "But I have to go. I have someone waiting outside for me. Have a good day, my love."

I jolted away from the door as it opened and gave a low bow. "Nii-sama."

"What is it, Rukia?" He asked coolly.

I straightened, my heart rate accelerating slightly. "D-did something happen between you and Hana? She left in a hurry, and she had all of her things with her."

He looked at me with a blank face. "She was in Hisana's room. I told her to leave. That is all." He started walking away.

"She looked frightened, though! Did she purposely go in there?"

Byakuya stopped, his figure going rigid. "Does it matter?"

"She could have gotten lost."

It was a reasonable explanation. After all, she was new to the mansion and she probably had no idea where she was going. The door was definitely similar to our front door. But there was no messing with Byakuya if he caught you in a room that was forbidden to everyone but close family. And that _definitely _applied to Hisana's memorial room.

Byakuya turned to me, his face impassive. "She could have gotten lost?" The tone of his voice seemed to freeze the whole hallway.

I nodded, wishing I could disappear into the floor. "Please," I stated softly. "Let her come back. I know that she went into Hisana-sama's room, but she's unfamiliar to the mansion and she doesn't know where things are. I'll make sure that she doesn't go into any room that's forbidden to commoners. Just give her another chance."

There was an awkward silence as I waited for an answer.

I briefly looked up to see his face. It held the same, cold and distant face that I'd always looked at. Never revealing any unwanted emotion, he hid what he was thinking perfectly. "Nii-sama…?"

He locked his gaze with mine. "No."

My heart sunk. "But-"

"Don't make me repeat myself. If she didn't know any better, than _you _should've been the one to tell her." He turned and walked away, giving his words time to sink in.

"Nii-sama…"

[Byakuya's POV]

"Don't make me repeat myself. If she didn't know any better, than _you _should've been the one to tell her."

The reply struck Rukia with a cold bitterness. I knew it would hurt her, but I couldn't let one girl change my mind, even if it was my sister.

I turned and walked away, leaving her to ponder my reply. I'd only gotten down the next hallway when I heard a voice call to me from behind. I sighed and was about to tell Rukia to let it go when I noticed the reiatsu was different. I turned my head slightly and saw who it was. "I thought I told you to leave." My voice was cold, definitive.

"I know," was her answer.

"Then why are you still here?"

She didn't reply at first, her head down.

I was growing impatient. "Well?"

"I'm sorry."

My eyes widened slightly.

"I didn't mean to walk into that room. I got lost, and didn't realize where I was until I saw the picture. I was trying to find the front door. I just wanted to apologize to you and-" She stopped mid-sentence. "I assume she was your wife?"

I nodded slowly. _How did she know that?_

"I'm only guessing, but she seems very important to you, and since Rukia is your sister, I thought the only logical conclusion is that she was your wife."

_She's smart._

"Please extend my apologies to your wife. I truly did not mean to impose." She turned to walk away, but stopped abruptly. "She was very beautiful. I'm sorry for your loss." With that, she was gone.

I watched as she disappeared. Her apology surprised me. Most people would leave and never come back, but for her to return and personally apologize…she was not like most people. This, I knew.

I stood there for a few more minutes and had only taken a couple steps when a familiar voice stopped me.

"Nii-sama!"

I turned. Rukia looked shaken up. "What is it this time?" I sighed slightly.

"Please hear me out. I understand your feelings, but I think that-"

"She can come back on _one_ condition." I watched as her face registered in surprise.

"What?"

"Please inform your friend of all the rooms that she is and isn't allowed into. I don't think either of us wants to deal with this situation again. If you can do that, she can come back." I turned and disappeared, catching a glimpse of her smile.

* * *

"Rukia Kuchiki and Hana Keiko, you two are requested to go to the real world and assist the substitute shinigami, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Hai." We replied.

"You will leave immediately."

**Reviews welcome! Constructive criticisim is also appreciated, but please keep it polite. Thanks! :) I have the next several chapters outlined up to chapter 9, so please stay tuned! I hope I'll be able to keep you interested until then! So, please review and thanks for reading! ^^ **


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